Section I. Introduction
A Criminal History Record includes an individual's identifiers (descriptive
information and fingerprints), arrests and subsequent dispositions. Dispositions
are posted to the National Criminal History Record File by the FBI's Criminal
Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division. Each criminal arrest for
which the CJIS Division has a fingerprint submission should have a disposition.

The FBI defines a disposition as an action regarded by the criminal justice
system to be final. A disposition states that arrest charge(s) have been
modified, dropped or reports the findings of a court.

Dispositions are submitted by criminal justice agencies and posted to
the Criminal History Record to ensure accuracy and completeness. Dispositions
are submitted to the CJIS Division by:

Importance of Arrest Dispositions
In every instance where criminal arrest fingerprints have previously been
submitted to the FBI, it is imperative that the final disposition be submitted
to maintain a complete and accurate Criminal History Record.

A complete Criminal History Record is important to Law Enforcement for
investigative purposes. A complete Criminal History Record is also important
for non-criminal justice background checks for employment, licensing,
adoption, citizenship and firearm purchases. In any of these cases, if
a disposition is not present on the applicant's Record, this could prevent
or delay finalization of these proceedings.

Many believe that if the disposition information is updated directly
to the Interstate Identification Index (III) through the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC), it is not necessary to submit this information
to the FBI. But, because III is not being used for handling interstate
non-criminal justice background checks, such requests continue to be handled
by the FBI. For this reason, the FBI's Criminal History Record File must
continue to be maintained and kept up-to-date.

Approximately 95 percent of all dispositions received by the CJIS Division
are submitted on MRD tape. States submitting dispositions via MRD tape
prepare the disposition information on magnetic tape per specified guidelines
established in the Disposition / Expungement MRD Specifications Manual.
Each tape contains approximately 20,000 dispositions. MRD tapes are mailed
to the CJIS Division monthly for processing. The tapes result in automatic
updates to Criminal History Records with minimal manual intervention.
There is no waiting period for a disposition to be posted once the CJIS
Division receives the MRD tape. The information is posted instantaneously
when the tape is processed. This means in a matter of hours, several
thousand Records will have updated disposition information. MRD results
in major savings in personnel resources and faster processing.

MRD Requirements
Currently, only state agencies can submit dispositions via MRD tape.
In order to submit dispositions via MRD tape, the state must meet the
following requirements:

Must be a Single Source State - This means that the State Criminal
History Repository is the channeling agency for dispositions, expungement
requests, corrections, deceased notices and consolidations.

State Criminal History Repository must be the Point of Origin for
MRD submission.

Media Types: 3480 Cartridge or 8 mm Tape,
or CD-ROM.

For more information, contact the FBI at 304-625-5590 and ask for the
Disposition / Expungement MRD Specifications Manual.

The R-84 Final Disposition Report is the most commonly used paper Disposition
Form. The R-84 is a standard form available through the FBI, free of
charge. To order R-84 Final Disposition Report or R-84 Training Forms,
contact the FBI at 304-625-3983.

Required Information for the R-84 Final Disposition Report

1) NameThe name submitted on the original arrest fingerprints that established
the record. The format is last name followed by a comma, first and middle
name, if any. Suffixes denoting seniority (e.g., Jr., Sr., III, etc.)
should follow the middle name.

2) Date of Birth (DOB)DOB in month, day and year format (e.g. MM/DD/YYYY). If a complete
DOB is not known, enter the approximate age of the subject followed by
the statement, "Years of Age."

3) Contributor of FingerprintsThe name and location of the agency that submitted the original arrest
fingerprints.

4) Date Arrested or ReceivedDate the subject was arrested by the contributor of the original arrest
fingerprints. The format is month, day and year (e.g., MM/DD//YYYY).

5) Offenses Charged at Arrest
Express the original arrest charge(s) in literal terms (e.g., murder,
rape, robbery, etc.). Numeric arrest codes and U.S. Title Codes are acceptable
when accompanied by the literal charge.

6) Final Disposition

List all final disposition information, including the sentence date
for each charge.
Include amended charges

The current version of the R-84 Final Disposition Report is dated 8/99.
Previous versions of the R-84 required the right fingerprint impressions
of the subject. Fingerprint impressions are no longer required.

Other Helpful Information for the R-84 (But Not Required)

1) FBI Number

2) State Identification Number (SID)
The SID is an identifying number assigned to the subject of record by
the state in which the arrest occurred. Enter SID numbers with no more
that ten alphanumeric characters, which includes the state abbreviations.

3) Social Security Number (SOC)

Common Reasons Dispositions Could Be Rejected No FBI Record Established for Subject ("Non-Ident") or Date
of Arrest Not on FileIn both of these cases, the CJIS Division has not received arrest
fingerprints related to the disposition submission. No FBI Record means
that the Criminal History Record File does not contain a Record for the
subject. No Date of Arrest means there is a Record, but the arrest to
which the disposition refers is not on file.

Missing Information

No State Criminal History Repository (Identification Bureau) Stamp
- Some states require that criminal history documents be processed through
the State Criminal History Repository prior to being sent to the FBI.
States that process documents through the State Repository will place
a State stamp on the document when processing has been completed.

No Name or Date of Birth Provided - This information is needed to
identify the appropriate Record to post the Disposition.

No Charge Provided - The CJIS Division cannot determine which arrest
cycle to associate the disposition, without the original arrest charge.

No Date of Arrest Provided - Without the Date of Arrest it is difficult
to determine what arrest cycle the disposition should be associated.

Charge Not in Literal Form

Numeric arrest codes and U.S. Title Codes are acceptable only when accompanied
by the literal charge.

Date of Arrest Does Not Match

Not Identifying Appropriate Disposition to the Appropriate ChargeIf there are multiple arrest charges on the R-84, it is important
to indicate which disposition goes with each charge. Please include
any amended charges.

Illegible Handwriting

Section III. Court Ordered Expungement
If a certified or authenticated copy of a court ordered expungement is
submitted with the R-84 Final Disposition Report, please check the box
"Court Ordered Expungement," on the R-84 Final Disposition Report and
attach the court order.

An expungement is a deletion of a single arrest or an entire Record.
Each state employs unique forms for submitting expungement information
to the CJIS Division to ensure the Criminal History Record at the FBI
is expunged. However, the following information should be on every expungement
request, regardless of the form used:

Name

Date of birth or FBI number

Expungement terminology (e.g., delete, expunge, purge, etc.)

Date of Arrest

Charge(s) to be removed

Copy of court order (in accordance with state guidelines)

State Bureau Stamp or letterhead (in accordance with state guidelines)

For questions regarding the expungement procedures contact the State
Criminal History Repository in the state in which the arrest occurred.

Section IV. Customer Service
For questions regarding Disposition Submission or how to submit Dispositions
via MRD tape, contact the FBI at 304-625-5590 or e-mail your question
to Liaison@Leo.gov.

To Order R-84 Final Disposition Reports or R-84 Training Forms
Contact the FBI at 304-625-3983.

Mailing AddressMail paper dispositions or expungements to the following address:

Some of these publications are in PDF (Portable Document Format). To view them you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in
installed on your computer. The Reader can be downloaded at no cost from Adobe's site on the World Wide Web